Carter Starocci glanced to his right where his teammates Tyler Kasak and Luke Lilledahl sat on Monday and saw the future of Penn State’s indomitable wrestling program.

It’s a scene that’s played out many times over the past decade-plus in Happy Valley. Starocci — along with seniors Beau Bartlett and Greg Kerkvliet — are just the latest wrestlers who’ll leave the program that has won 12 national championships since 2011 in a much more competitive place.

“As I came here we had a really good team, and then my sophomore year we had a better team and my junior year we had a better team, and now we have an even better team,” Starocci said. “I think these two young studs right here, they’re obviously really good wrestlers and they’re going to keep that going and that’s what it’s about.”

Fresh off a ransacking of the Big Ten tournament where the Nittany Lions earned a program-best five individual championships, Penn State will send all 10 wrestlers to Philadelphia for the NCAA Championships. Four will be top seeds while the rest will be seeded among the top eight in their respective weight classes.

While Starocci will seek an unprecedented fifth individual NCAA championship, Levi Haines (174) and Greg Kerkvliet are looking for their second individual titles in a row. Bartlett (141) and Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) are looking to improve on runner-up finishes last year.

Braeden Davis (133) and Kasak (157) will make their second tournament appearances while Lilledahl (125) and Josh Barr (197) will make their NCAA tournament debuts. Shayne Van Ness (149) returns after missing last season with an injury. He finished third in 2023.

Penn State coach Cael Sanderson has been asked about how he gets his wrestlers to “peak” for what he calls “the best tournament in the world for sure” each year. But for a program that hasn’t lost a dual in just over five years, the word doesn’t mean a whole lot. 

“The energy and attitude of the kids has been as great as it ever has been in our program,” Sanderson said. “Obviously, we have a lot of consistency and there really haven’t been many, if any exceptions, where guys haven’t been at their best in those big moments. But again, it comes down to each individual kid and them choosing how they’re gonna go into competition —  how they’re gonna use the seven minutes that they have with each match. But I think they’re prepared and we’re excited for this.”

So, what is the goal? Set the team scoring record again this year? Fielding 10 All-Americans? Would 10 individual champions be possible?

“We want each of our guys to go in there and be happy and healthy and smiling when the tournament’s over and take whatever comes out of this tournament and run with it,” Sanderson said.

All The All-Americans

It takes a bit of prodding to get a smile out of Kasak, a stoic outdoorsman who’s earned his teammates respect for his toughness and gritty style, but he perked up at the mention of 10 All-Americans. 

He thinks it’s a real possibility, even though just one team — the 2001 Minnesota lineup — has accomplished the feat in nearly 100 years.

“I think it’s a stepping stone for one of the things the program hasn’t done yet,” Kasak said. “I think it’ll put it in another status to where we separate ourselves from wrestling teams and just sports in general to where I think this program is doing things that no sports program, regardless of the sport or the level, could possibly do, so I think it’s special it’s a real possibility.”

Kasak would know about what’s possible. He fell in his very first match in the championships last year, but wrestled all the way back to take third as a freshman. 

Was it one of the tougher things he’s had to do in the sport? Actually, no. Refocusing after that first loss was pretty tough, however.

“I think I learned a lot about myself. If you put your mind to it, you can really do whatever you want,” Kasak said. “Those were some dark times. I walk in there thinking I’m going to win my first national championship and it gets stopped in the first match. It was pretty heartbreaking, so just having the right people around you and support system really helped.”

'Lightning Luke'

Although he’ll wrestle in his first NCAA tournament, Lilledahl doesn’t expect to get caught up in the atmosphere and weight of the moment. 

Since 2022, Penn State’s speedy freshman has competed on the world stage. He’s won a handful of medals, including the gold at 57 kilograms at U20 Worlds in Spain in September. 

After breezing through the 125-pound Big Ten field with a fall, two majors and a 4-3 decision over Nebraska’s Caleb Smith in the finals, Lilledahl is just pumped to see some different foes for once.

“Every guy besides (Purdue’s) Matt Ramos that I wrestled during the season, I wrestled at Big Tens,” Lilledahl said. “So just kind of seeing how much better I am than these other guys from the other conferences and just having fun as well, because personally I think I’m a lot higher level than all these guys and I can just go out and show it now that it’s time.”

Lilledahl has lost just twice so far. He dropped a 4-1 decision to Rutgers’ Dean Peterson on Jan. 24 and lost by fall in 3:58 to Ohio State’s Brendan McCrone on Feb. 14.

Since the loss to McCrone, Lilledahl has won all but one of his bouts with bonus points.

“I think he’s just getting more confident each time he wrestles,” Sanderson said. “Obviously very, very good coming in here and he’s just continued with his perspective, his approach to the sport, what he was brought up with, he looks at every match as an opportunity to get better and that’s just what he’s done.”

Ready As They Can Be

Davis has dealt with an undisclosed ailment down the stretch that prevented him from wrestling in four of Penn State’s final six duals. 

He split his last two regular season dual matches, beating Ohio State’s Nic Bouzakis 8-5 on Feb. 14 before losing to Illinois’ Lucas Byrd 7-1 two days later. He went 4-2 in the Big Ten tournament and was pinned by Bouzakis in the third-place match.

Despite the fourth-place finish, Davis did enough to advance to Philly, where Sanderson expects him to improve on his early exit as a freshman.

“I think as far as health, I think he’s going to be even better this week than he was at the Big Ten and I think outside of not having a lot of matches, he’s feeling better and ready to go,” Sanderson said.

Additionally, Sanderson was asked about Barr, who suffered an apparent injury during a consolation semifinal match at Big Tens. Barr exited his bout with Minnesota’s Isaiah Salazar and used a medical forfeit instead of wrestling in the fifth-place bout.

“Josh is going to be ready to scrap on Thursday,” Sanderson said.

More Is Better

Mesenbrink has put on offensive clinics every time he’s taken the mat this season and the number show it.

The #1 seed at 165, Mesenbrink leads the Nittany Lions in total wins (22), dual points scored (75), technical falls (16) and total takedowns for/against (55/0).

“He wants to be the best in the world,” Sanderson said. 

He looked like he was on his way a year ago as a true freshman before he lost to Iowa State sixth-year senior David Carr on riding time in the finals. 

The two had battled back and forth before Mesenbrink snagged a go-ahead takedown with just 40 seconds left, but Carr wriggled away still holding the riding time advantage and avoided Mesenbrink’s final shots the rest of the way. 

“We’re still trying to learn from each match,” Sanderson said. “And the key is you don’t have to lose to learn. You can get in a match and say, ‘I need to finish a takedown this way.’ And especially a guy like Mitch, where he has people coming at him and trying to defend different ways and trying to slow things down or whatever, we have to counter that and make sure we’re a step ahead.”

Bumping Up

Sanderson never has to worry about Haines not being in shape, prepared or focused. The shaggy-haired, two-time All-American has seemingly done everything right since he enrolled in 2023 and appears to be on the same trajectory that carried him to a runner-up finish as a true freshman and his first NCAA title at 157 pounds last year.

Haines, the son of a man who finished his career at Lock Haven as a 197-pounder, has looked like a fish in water up at 174 this year.

Although he had a 32-match winning streak snapped by Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole when O’Toole took him down in sudden victory on Dec. 22, Haines has won 13 of his 21 bouts at 174 with bonus points. Eight have come via fall. In his previous two years, Haines had nine combined falls at 157, where he was eventually cutting weight and dieting more as he grew.

“Levi’s just a beast,” Sanderson said. “Different plan this year. Now it’s just go wrestle, keep your weight up, be yourself. He’s a good size 174-pounder. He’s just Levi Haines. He just goes and competes and he’s got a great mindset and his values and focus are the right things, so I just think he’s doing what he does and is being himself.”

Meanwhile, you could say the same thing for Starocci, who used his last official press conference in Rec Hall to make a confident pitch.

“For me it’s never about winning a national title or anything like that,” Starocci said. “For me, I just really enjoy competition and I’m very competitive. So for me, just one thing I want to make sure before I go, is that I kill all these guys.”

Starocci’s four NCAA championships came at 174 pounds. And while part of the reason he moved up to 184 for his final year was to accommodate other growing teammates in the lineup, he also wanted to get a shot at another group of foes. 

If Starocci had it his way, he’d have to wrestle everyone in the bracket, round-robin style.

But sometimes Starocci’s emotions have thrown him a bit off course. He was upset after a knee injury suffered in the final regular season dual forced Sanderson and the rest of the coaching staff to shut Starocci down for the Big Ten tournament. While the star wrestler and legendary coach disagreed on Starocci’s postseason workload, they eventually cooled off and refocused with a simple fact.

Sanderson told him he could win the tournament with one leg and a good attitude, but not with one leg with a bad attitude. 

Starocci, who had brooded around campus after Big Tens, was noticeably relaxed and back to his more outgoing self afterward. While he could’ve decided against using the extra year of eligibility made possible by the COVID-19 pandemic, Starocci is glad he did, for the simple fact that no wrestler may ever get the chance to go five-for-five again. 

“He has a pretty good mindset about it,” Sanderson said. “I remember him last year saying, ‘You know, the other four-time guys probably could’ve won a fifth if they had a chance.’ Just a healthy perspective. And you’d say, ‘Well, yeah, maybe but maybe not.’ No one has ever been in this position like he is. You just kind of focus on what you can do with your hands and your feet and your brain and kind of let everything else work out. But I think Carter’s a supreme competitor. He loves to compete.”

They Go Way Back

Kerkvliet, last year’s 285-pound NCAA champ, could also find himself in a unique situation with Minnesota’s Gable Steveson back in the heavyweight bracket.

Steveson, a 2021 Olympic champion, returned to the Gophers to use his final year of eligibility after initially stepping away after the 2021-22 season. The two grew up wrestling together in the Minnesota high school ranks and have wrestled a handful of times in college, most recently in the Big Ten Championships, where Steveson outlasted Kerkvliet 10-3.

Minnesota’s big man has looked unbeatable for a long time — since 2018, in fact. 

Still, Starocci, one of Kerkvliet’s best friends, believes his buddy can do what no man has done for a long time.

“I think he’s very beatable,” Starocci said. “He’s obviously one of the greatest all time to ever do it in the sport of wrestling and so that’s one thing I was telling Greg. I’m like, ‘Dude, this is kind of how you want to go out. If you beat this guy on Saturday night, you’re going to live a different life the rest of your life.’ So you want to embrace that challenge.”